Australia’s ad spend growth for 2013 has been downgraded by global marketing intelligence firm WARC from its initial predictions last August.

WARC, which uses a panel of media agencies and marketers across the globe, is now predicting ad spend to rise by 2.1%, down from 3.6% predicted last year.

Globally marketing budgets have been forecast to increase by 4%, whilst total ad spend is expected to increase by 5.5%, although all countries except Brazil have seen forecasts downgraded.

Suzy Young, data editor at Warc said: "In 2012, the industry benefited from the Olympics and the US presidential election.

“In 2013, we're all keen to see how advertising holds up without these quadrennial factors. There are still risks for global economic growth. Marketers are not ready to adjust their cautious approach just yet. "

Unsurprisingly Europe looks set to be the hardest hit, with Spain and Italy set to record negative ad spend this year, and France growth of 0.1%, with powerhouse Germany at 1.2%.

Emerging economies Russia (12.3%), China (10.9%), Brazil (9.8%) and India (8.5%) are at the top of the league table, ahead of Canada (3.7%), the UK (3%) and US (2.2%).